(a) The garden signifies the kingdom of Christ,
where he prepares the banquet for his elect.

5:2b I
sleep, but my heart waketh: [it is] the voice of my beloved that knocketh,
[saying], Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is
filled with dew, [and] my locks with the drops of the c
night.

(b) The spouse says that she is troubled with the
cares of worldly things, which is meant by sleeping.
(c) Declaring the long patience of the Lord
toward sinners.

5:3 I have put off my d
coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

(d) The spouse confesses her nakedness, and that
of herself she has nothing, or seeing that she is once made clean she promises
not to defile herself again.

5:5 I rose up to open to my
beloved; and my hands flowed [with] myrrh, and my e
fingers [with] sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.

(e) The spouse who should be anointed by Christ
will not find him if she thinks to anoint him with her good works.

5:7 The f
watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the
keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

(f) These are the false teachers who wound the
conscience with their traditions.